Fr. Cyril, the blind and deaf man who didn’t give up the priesthood

One of the individuals present at today’s audience with the deaf and blind was Fr. Axelrod, a South African priest who has become a symbol in his defence of the disabled and their rights

Giorgio Bernardelli

“The sick or disabled person, because of their fragility and limits, can become a witness of the encounter with Jesus.” Cyril Axelrod was there when Francis pronounced these words at today’s audience with the Movimento Apostolico Ciechi (Apostolic Movement for the Blind) and the Piccola Missione per i Sordomuti (Little Mission for the Deaf). Sat in the front row, he was able to follow what was being said thanks to an interpreter who used sign language to transmit the Pope’s message. This is the only way people like him, who are affected by Usher syndrome, can communicate. And Fr. Cyril recognised his own story in the Pope’s words.

Axelrod is an extraordinary symbol of disabled people’s strength and a pioneer of the priestly ministry exercised by those who are forced into a condition of almost absolute isolation as a result of an illness. Cyril was born in Cape Town in 1942 and has faced a great many obstacles in his life. And not just physical ones. For example, he was born to an Orthodox Jewish family and became a Catholic priest after a personal path of self discovery, without rejecting his Jewish roots. In his homeland of South Africa, during the apartheid, he fought against racial segregation - which also affected deaf people - in Soweto. When his disability worsened in the 80’s, he did not let this hold him back from doing missionary service in Macaw and Hong Kong, where he introduced important initiatives on the disability culture. He did this in the Far East, where the disabled are traditionally seen as a cause of shame. In the 2000’s he also launched the first ever pastoral care service that focuses specifically on the deaf and blind in the Archdiocese of Westminster in London.

His efforts and ideas have made Fr. Axelrod a very popular man indeed among thousands of deaf and blind people all over the world. So much so, that on 22 November, Queen Elizabeth made him an Officer of the British Empire, the highest title bestowed by the British Crown.

Today was the third time Axelrod had met with a Pope. The first time was in 1971, just a few months after his priestly ordination, when his illness had not yet affected his sight. Fr. Cyril recalls this occasion, when he met Paul VI, in his autobiography And the Journey Begins. In the book, Axelrod says that when Pope Montini heard his name, he smiled and his face lit up. The Pope apparently told him that Bishop Green had told him about his (Axelrod’s) ordination and confessed to him that he was the first deaf priest he had ever met. The Pope embraced Axelrod and asked him to extend his admiration to his mother for the gift she had given the Church. He then blessed Axelrod saying: “Go and preach God’s love to the deaf.” The Pope’s gestures and his words moved Axelrod to tears and were a sign of the wonders God had in store for him, the Redemptorist missionary concluded.